Immunology

Ampio is Preparing an Expanded Access FDA protocol to Study Nebulized Ampion as a Treatment for Moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome…

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: AMPE), a pre-revenue development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of immunology based therapies to treat prevalent inflammatory conditions for which limited treatment options exist, announced today that it is preparing an expanded access FDA protocol to study potential benefit of nebulized treatment with Ampion in SARS-Cov-2 ("COVID-19") induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ("ARDS"), an immediately life-threatening condition.

Ampio's Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB") members David Bar-Or, MD, Pablo Rubinstein, MD, and Edward Brody, MD, PhD, determined after a careful review of the published articles on the properties of Ampion, that nebulized Ampion may be suitable to treat another inflammatory indication. Specifically, ARDS, one of the most dreaded complications of COVID-19 is associated with widespread inflammation in the lungs. The underlying mechanism of ARDS involves diffuse injury to cells which form the barrier of the microscopic air sacs (alveoli) of the lung, surfactant dysfunction, and activation of the immune system. The fluid accumulation in the lungs associated with ARDS is partially explained by vascular leakage due to inflammation. Ampion is an aqueous solution that may be delivered through nebulization and may be suitable for suppressing inflammation in the lungs.

Ampion is a human blood derived composition, currently approved for clinical use by the FDA, as an anti-inflammatory, immunomodulating drug. The novel mode of action of Ampion involves multiple biochemical pathways associated with resolving inflammation1 which make it a potential therapy for ARDS as follows:

The anticipated aim of a preliminary protocol for FDA review would be to evaluate patients with moderate to severe ARDS, triggered by COVID-19, for (1) reduced ventilator time; (2) reduction in mortality and (3) improvements in oxygenation parameters compared to non-Ampion treated patients.

1 Bar-Or, et. al., On the Mechanisms of Action of the Low Molecular Weight Fraction of Commercial Human Serum Albumin in Osteoarthritis. Current Rheumatology Reviews, 2019, 15, 189-200.2 Fukunaga, et. al., Cyclooxygenase 2 Plays a Pivotal Role in the Resolution of Acute Lung Injury. Journal of Immunology 2005; 174:5033-5039.3 Gao et al. Resolvin D1 Improves the Resolution of Inflammation via Activating NF-B p50/p50-Mediated Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, 174:5033-5039, J Immunol 2017

About Ampio Pharmaceuticals Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a development stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of Ampion to treat prevalent inflammatory conditions for which there are limited treatment options. Ampio's lead product candidate, AmpionTM, is backed by an extensive patent portfolio with intellectual property protection extending through 2032 and is eligible for 12-year FDA market exclusivity upon approval as a novel biologic under the biologics price competition and innovation act ("BPCIA").

Forward-Looking StatementsAmpio's statements in this press release that are not historical fact, and that relate to future plans or events, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "may", and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ampio's expectations with respect to Ampion and its classification, as well as those associated with regulatory approvals and other FDA decisions, the Biological License Application ("BLA"), the ability of Ampio to enter into partnering arrangements, clinical trials and decisions and changes in business conditions and similar events, all of which are inherently subject to various risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties involved include those detailed from time to time in Ampio's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation, under Ampio's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ampio undertakes no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company ContactDaniel G. Stokely, CFOPhone: (720) 437-6500info@ampiopharma.com

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SOURCE Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Company Codes: AMEX:AMPE

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Immunology

Mount Sinai Developing an End-to-End Diagnostics Solution for COVID-19 That Incorporates Diagnosis, Treatment Selection, and Monitoring of Disease…

Newswise (New York, NY March 23, 2020) An expert team of researchers and clinicians in microbiology, virology, pathology, molecular science, and immunology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) and The Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) have been working together around the clock to design, validate, and implement an end-to-end clinical pathology laboratory solution that will allow for the testing of approximately several hundred people per day in order to rapidly diagnose and help guide the selection of treatment and monitor disease course.

Using a high-throughput, automated molecular assay, The Mount Sinai Hospital Clinical Laboratories are currently testing several hundred patients per day for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to identify positive versus negative cases. The testing effort will ramp up to a capacity of 1,000 tests per day. Mount Sinai follows NY State guidelines and is only testing patients with trouble breathing and/or moderate-to-severe respiratory symptoms at this time. (Please consult your physician if you believe you are a candidate for testing.)

For patients who test positive for SARS-CoV-2, a quantitative assay designed and implemented by a multidisciplinary Mount Sinai team is capable of measuring whether the patients viral load is high or low. The viral load findings will be studied to ascertain whether they assist in managing the disease and aiding in the selection of effective treatments. The clinical laboratory efforts are being led by Peter Palese, MD, Horace W. Goldsmith Professor and Chair of Microbiology, and Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, Irene Heinz Given and John LaPorte Given Professor and Chair of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine.

Internationally renowned researchers and clinicians from ISMMS and MSH are also tackling some other important tests to help in the fight against COVID-19, including:

A Blood Test That Measures Immunity in Recovered COVID-19 Patients

To help uncover just how widespread the novel coronavirus is within communities, a team led by virologist Florian Krammer, PhD, Professor of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, developed a serological enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. This test measures the presence or absence of antibodies to the virus in peoples blood. Similar to the most commonly used tests for other viruses, such as hepatitis B, this test shows whether a persons immune system has ever come into contact with the virus (even months ago). There are three main advantages to this test: providing an accurate picture of how many people have been infected; identifying people with new immunity to SARS-CoV-2 who could care for COVID-19 patients at zero or minimal risk; and identifying newly recovered patients with high antibody levels who can donate their antibody-rich blood, known as convalescent plasma, to potentially save other patients with severe COVID-19. Initially the testing will be limited to potential plasma donors until testing capacity increases.

The team began working on this serological assay in January, before COVID-19 had been seen in the United States. To make this test, the researchers cloned animal cells to produce copies of the telltale spike protein that is present on the surface of SARS-CoV-2. That protein is highly immunogenic, meaning that peoples bodies see it and start making antibodies that can lock onto it. The test involves exposing a sample of blood to bits of the spike protein. If the test lights up, it means that person has the antibodies. Viviana Simon, MD, PhD, Professor of Microbiology at ISMMS, was instrumental in the design and implementation of the test, which has been approved for clinical use by the New York State Wadsworth Laboratory and is currently undergoing validation and urgent implementation. ISMMS medical students are establishing a social media campaign to identify volunteers to be tested.

Our test can pick up the bodys response to infection as early as three days post-symptom onset and it could help locate survivors who are hyper-immune, says Dr. Krammer. Those people could then potentially donate their convalescent plasma to help very sick COVID-19 patients in intensive care units to help boost their immunity.

The sensitive and specific identification of SARS-CoV-2 that ELISA provides will also support screening of health care workers to identify those who have already been exposed and are already immune. Those staff could then be deployed to the front lines to perform the riskiest taskslike intubating a person infected with the viruswithout worrying about getting infected or spreading the disease to colleagues, other patients, or their families. To learn the true extent of infections, the next step will be for researchers to carry out these serological surveys via blood draws from large numbers of people in an outbreak area, which may tell them exactly how many cases have gone unnoticed.

According to Dr. Krammer, efforts by the team at Mount Sinai and a few others developing similar tests (including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to carry out a wider survey are just getting started, so it will likely be some time before scientists learn just how widespread SARS-CoV-2 is. The Mount Sinai Hospital Clinical Laboratories are also sharing specimens from recovered patients with the New York State Wadsworth Laboratory to assist other facilities in this effort.

A Test That Can Determine When a COVID-19 Patient Is Entering a Dangerous Point in Their Disease and a Drug Trial for a Subset of Those Patients

Mount Sinais Human Immune Monitoring Center, led by Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai Endowed Professor in Cancer Immunology and Sacha Gnajtic, PhD Associate Professor of Immunology and Hematology/Oncology, are working on a test called the ELLA Cytokine Storm Panel to determine when someone infected with COVID-19 is entering a critical point in their disease. When patients take a turn for the worse, they are experiencing a burst in their bodys immune response, particularly with a group of immune molecules called cytokines. This burst of cytokines, called cytokine release syndrome or a cytokine storm, contributes to the severity of COVID-19, because the cytokines attack the patients organs, which can be fatal in some cases.

Mount Sinai clinical laboratories will use the ELLA Cytokine Storm Panel in COVID-19 patients who have been admitted to the hospital to monitor them and know, in real time, when they are experiencing cytokine storm. The test results are available in a few hours, and can be repeated throughout the course of care to help guide hospital care and to measure the response to experimental drugs given in clinical trials for COVID-19 patients.

Coupled with the Cytokine Storm Panel, Mount Sinais Division of Infectious Diseases, led by Judith A. Aberg, MD, will begin several clinical trials for patients with COVID-19. Their team has analyzed data from China showing that the cytokine release syndrome is killing COVID-19 patients and that inhibiting the storm using therapies tested in cancer patients who received CAR-T cellsmodified immune system cells used to fight cancermay improve their condition. Mount Sinais Human Immune Monitoring Center will be monitoring patients on all experimental trials to identify biomarkers response and guide additional therapeutic strategies.

Some of the best researchers in the world, giants on the frontier of the fields of infectious disease, microbiology, emerging pathogens, and immunology, are here at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and The Mount Sinai Hospital. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, they have been tracking the data coming out of China and Italy to mount a response that will help diagnose and treat ill patients, says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System. Our health system has fast-tracked funding and approvals for these tests and clinical trials to help patients not just within our own community, but to help people around the globe.

To support COVID-19 research and response efforts, visit https://www.mountsinai.org/covid19research.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality carefrom prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. The Health System includes more than 7,200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 14 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the Top 20 Best Hospitals in the country and the Icahn School of Medicine as one of the Top 20 Best Medical Schools in country. Mount Sinai Health System hospitals are consistently ranked regionally by specialty by U.S. News & World Report.

For more information, visithttps://www.mountsinai.orgor find Mount Sinai onFacebook,TwitterandYouTube.

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Mount Sinai Developing an End-to-End Diagnostics Solution for COVID-19 That Incorporates Diagnosis, Treatment Selection, and Monitoring of Disease...

Immunology

Possible COVID-19 treatment: transfusion of antibodies from recovered patients’ blood – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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Century-old idea applied to modern pandemic

A laboratory worker removes plasma from a vial of blood. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere are investigating whether transfusions of blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 can prevent or treat the disease. The approach was used with some success during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

With no drugs or vaccines yet approved for COVID-19 and the number of U.S. cases increasing by the thousands every day, doctors are looking to revive a century-old therapy for infectious diseases: transfusing antibodies from the blood of recovered patients into people who are seriously ill.

During the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, doctors were faced with a deadly illness and no specific treatments. Recognizing that people who had recovered were immune to the infection, some doctors tried treating their patients with blood serum from recovered flu patients. In many cases it worked.

Giving serum from newly recovered patients is a stone-age approach, but historically it has worked, said Jeffrey P. Henderson, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This is how we used to prevent and treat viral infections like measles, mumps, polio and influenza, but once vaccines were developed, the technique understandably fell out of favor and many people forgot about it. Until we have specific drugs and vaccines for COVID-19, this approach could save lives.

Henderson was reminded of the technique by Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, the chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Casadevall began championing the idea of using plasma from convalescing patients to treat COVID-19 in early March. Plasma and serum are both the clear fluid portion of blood, and both contain antibodies, but plasma also contains some other proteins lacking in serum.

Plasma transfusion was used experimentally to treat small numbers of people during the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003. SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome, is caused by a coronavirus closely related to the one that causes COVID-19. In one study, SARS patients who received plasma transfusions recovered faster than those who did not.

Henderson, Casadevall and Michael Joyner, MD, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., quickly joined forces and leveraged the resources at their three institutions to test the approach. Their efforts resulted in an investigational new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration that was filed March 18. If the application is approved, they plan to move rapidly to a clinical trial.

This is something that can be done very quickly, much faster than drug development, because it basically involves donating and transfusing plasma, Henderson said. As soon as we have individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 walking around, we have potential donors, and we can use the blood bank system to obtain plasma and distribute it to the patients who need it.

The plan is to ask patients who recover from COVID-19 to donate their blood, from which plasma would be isolated. After screening for toxins and viruses, the plasma would be transfused into people ill with or at high risk of COVID-19. The procedure for isolating plasma is a long-established technology that can be performed using equipment normally found in blood-banking facilities, and receiving plasma from these donors is as safe as any other plasma transfusion, Henderson said.

The concept is simple, but the execution is more complicated. The scientists still need to determine how much antibody is in the blood of recovered patients, and how much antibody needs to be given to effectively treat or prevent COVID-19.Brenda Grossman, MD,a professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine and director of transfusion medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, was brought on board to help navigate the complex regulations surrounding blood donations and transport of blood products across state lines.

The idea is catching fire.

Last week, it was the three of us on a conference call, Henderson said. This week, we had people from all over the country I dont even know how many. Everyones excited about this. If it works, it could provide a lifeline at this early stage of the pandemic.

Clinical teams ready; research for vaccines, drugs underway

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Possible COVID-19 treatment: transfusion of antibodies from recovered patients' blood - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Immunology

VERIFY: The risk of contracting coronavirus from groceries, mail remains low – WUSA9.com

WASHINGTON QUESTION:

Is there a high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus from your groceries or mail?

ANSWER:

No, the risk of coming into contact from your groceries or mail remains low, according to health experts. After touching any surface, you should wash your hands before touching your face.

SOURCES:

Dr. Sanjay Maggirwar- Chair of George Washington University's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine

Dr. Robin Petal- Director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, Chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology and Director of its Bacteriology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.

World Health Organization

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

USPS spokesperson

UPS spokesperson

FedEx spokesperson

PROCESS:

A lots been written about the necessity to avoid high-touched surfaces and emphasizing the need to wash your hands.

Health officials have underscored the need to disinfect tables, doorknobs, light switches, phones and sinks regularly. But what about surfaces that are less obvious like letters and packaged food from the grocery store?

A viewer reached out to Verify team and asked if she should be disinfecting things like packaged food or letters

So were verifying: Is there a high risk of catching coronavirus from your groceries or mail?

Our Verify researchers spoke with two microbiology experts Dr. Sanjay Maggirwar from the George Washington University and Dr. Robin Patel of Mayo Clinic.

"All the surfaces at this point, we should consider as infected or contaminated," Maggirwar said.

Dr. Sanjay Maggirwar leads George Washington's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine.

He says compared to something like a public doorknob, groceries are a much lower risk.

Most likely it was handled just once or twice by the person, and these days the person is probably wearing gloves," Maggirwar said. "So the level of the virus to an infectious state would be a lot less.

Patel agreed that contracting the virus from packaged food or mail was "extraordinarily unlikely as a root of transmission."

"You don't become infected just by touching surfaces," Patel said. "You become infected because you touched a surface and the virus got on your hand and then you inoculated your mouth, your nose or eyes with that virus."

That's why it's crucial to avoid touching your face and practicing good hygiene, like washing your hands.

Right now neither the CDC nor WHO say anything about wiping down your groceries with disinfecting wipes.

What about touching mail?

Our Verify researchers spoke with the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx. Theyre all looking to leaders like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization for guidance.

The WHO and CDC say coronaviruses dont survive very long on objects, such as letters or packages.

"The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, traveled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low," WHO writes.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of CDCs National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, addressed the question of packages specifically.

She said, In general, because of the poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, thats in the range of hours, theres likely a very, very, very low if any risk of spread from products or packaging that is shipped over a period of days or weeks in ambient temperatures.

So we can Verify, no, there is a low risk of catching the virus through your mail or groceries.

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Immunology

Secarna Pharmaceuticals announces the acquisition of LNAplus(TM) based antisense drug candidates by Lipigon Pharmaceuticals – Benzinga

MUNICH and MARTINSRIED, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / March 23, 2020 / Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG ("Secarna"), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of next generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies to address challenging or previously undruggable targets via its LNAplusTM platform, today announced that the Company signed a Research, Development and Transfer Agreement with Lipigon Pharmaceuticals AB ("Lipigon"). Under this agreement, Lipigon acquires certain antisense drug candidates, which were developed with Secarna's proprietary LNAplusTM platform, including the corresponding patent portfolio. The antisense oligonucleotide candidates targeting the ANGPTL gene family for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases were previously generated by Secarna and Lipigon under a target validation and drug discovery collaboration. Going forward, Lipigon will fund and continue the development of the acquired assets and Secarna receives payments customary for such a transaction. Financial details were not disclosed.

Inhibiting the ANGPTL gene family members ANGPTL3 and ANGPTL4 with Secarna's LNAplusTM based antisense oligonucleotides has shown to positively affect plasma lipid levels. Therefore, safe and effective drug candidates addressing these targets have the potential to become novel treatments of orphan diseases such as Familial Chylomicronaemia Syndrome or Homozygote Familial Hypercholesterolemia, but also more common cardiovascular, metabolic liver, kidney diseases or diseases as dyslipidaemia.

"For the past two years, we have collaborated with our colleagues at Lipigon under a highly productive discovery and research partnership. We are excited that Lipigon has selected therapeutic lead candidates generated from Secarna's LNAplusTM platform and will now swiftly progress them through the next stages of development", said Jonas Renz, Managing Director and Co-founder of Secarna Pharmaceuticals.

"Antisense-based therapeutics have gained strong industry interest over the past five to seven years as evidenced by major licensing and acquisitions transactions. We are very pleased that our successful collaboration with Secarna has generated fully optimized, patented LNAplusTM antisense drug candidates ready to enter late stage pre-clinical development and GMP manufacturing," said Stefan K. Nilsson, CEO and Co-founder of Lipigon.

About Secarna's proprietary drug discovery platform, LNAplusTM

Secarna's proprietary third-generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) platform, LNAplusTM, which encompasses all aspects of drug discovery and pre-clinical development, enables the company to discover novel antisense-based therapies for challenging or currently undruggable targets.Secarna's platform and ASOs have previously been validated by numerous in-house projects as well as in several academic and industry collaborations. With over 15 development programs focusing on targets in indications such as immuno-oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, as well as viral-, neurodegenerative- and cardiometabolic diseases, where antisense-based approaches have clear benefits compared to other therapeutic modalities, Secarna is the leading independent European antisense drug discovery and development company.

About Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG

Secarna Pharmaceuticals is the next generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) company with multiple innovative antisense therapies in various stages of pre-clinical development in the areas of immuno-oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, as well as viral-, neurodegenerative- and cardiometabolic diseases. Secarna's mission is to maximize the performance and output of its proprietary LNAplusTM antisense oligonucleotide discovery platform, as well as to develop highly specific, safe, and efficacious best-in-class antisense therapies for challenging or currently not druggable targets. http://www.secarna.com

About Lipigon Pharmaceuticals

Lipigon are lipid biology experts focusing on developing novel therapeutics for patients with lipid- related disorders. The company is a spin-off from Umeå University, Sweden, based on five decades of lipid research. Our primary focus is orphan lipid disorders and in addition to the ANGPTL antisense program, Lipigon's pipeline, including a project for gene therapy treatment of lipodystrophy. This program is partnered with Combigene AB (publ). http://www.lipigon.se.

Contact

Jonas RenzManaging Director and Co-founderJonas.Renz@secarna.com

Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KGAm Klopferspitz 1982152 Planegg/MartinsriedTel.: +49 (0)89 215 46 375

For media enquiries:

Anne HenneckeMC Services AGanne.hennecke@mc-services.euTel.: +49 (0)211.52 92 52 22

SOURCE: Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG via EQS Newswire

View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/582058/Secarna-Pharmaceuticals-announces-the-acquisition-of-LNAplusTM-based-antisense-drug-candidates-by-Lipigon-Pharmaceuticals

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Secarna Pharmaceuticals announces the acquisition of LNAplus(TM) based antisense drug candidates by Lipigon Pharmaceuticals - Benzinga

Immunology

Sydney-born immunologist Sotiris Tsiodras, the ‘voice’ of coronavirus in Greece – Neos Kosmos

Australias response to the crisis has been mild compared to Greeces stringent lockdown. Despite the fact that there have been just 17 deaths and 695 cases, the government is acting as though the numbers are high. A protagonist in Greeces battle against coronavirus is Sydney-born immunologist Sotiris Tsiodras, the government spokesperson for coronavirus-related measures.

Mr Tsiodras is the father of seven children and a CV that runs over 27 pages. He is dubbed the new beloved of Greeks by Le Figaro, and he holds the burden of informing Greeks of what is in store in the war against Covid-19.

Relatively unknown to the general public until now, Mr Tsiodras is now the man of the moment. Greek sociologist Andreas Drymiotis writes: Greeks particularly appreciate his calm, his knowledge on the matter, and his deep respect for all victims and the fact that he has an unbreakable dedication to nursing staff.

Born in Sydney on 13 October, 1965, his family later moved to Greece where he finished his studies at the senior high school of Kypseli. Following studies in Athens, he later specialised in immunology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre as well as Harvard Medical School, where he was a researcher.

His medical skill was seen at the inspections of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 as well as the Athens Games in 2004. In Greece, he advised authorities on H5N1, West Nile Fever and more.

READ MORE:Greek government bans gathering of groups of 10 in open spaces as coronavirus numbers rise to 418

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was alerted to the danger Greece faced as soon as the first cases were noted in Italy, when Mr Tsiodras asked him to take drastic action. The article in Le Figaro also refers to the success of Mr Tsiodras in getting the powerful Greek church to collaborate in the fight against coronavirus. A devout Christian himself, he wakes up on Sundays to go to his parish and is an adept Byzantine chanter a passion he has had for many years.

Though a man with deep faith, he advised for the suspension of every service. It was a difficult decision for a country that claims to be 98 per cent Greek Orthodox in faith, and even more staggering bearing in time that the great feast of Orthodoxy is around the corner.

READ MORE:We are at war, says Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and says more measures will be necessary

There have already been 2,000 doctors and nurses drafted and there are fears that the disaster will exceed the countrys capacity to manage following a decade-long financial crisis that shrunk the countrys GDP by 25 per cent as well as a local infrastructure that is already tested by a refugee crisis.

Something that Mr Tsiodras is respected for, however, is his ability to contain the virus.

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Sydney-born immunologist Sotiris Tsiodras, the 'voice' of coronavirus in Greece - Neos Kosmos

Biochemistry

Removing Belly Fat Before It Sticks to You: University Researchers Produce Fat-Busting Proteins – SciTechDaily

We are really interested in understanding triglycerides because hypertriglyceridemia too much fat in your blood is a big factor leading to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and other health concerns, explains Davidson, who holds appointments in UCs departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology. When you have a lot of fat that is hanging around in your circulation its important to clear as much of it out as soon as possible.

APOA5 is highly involved in how fast triglycerides get taken out of your circulation, says Davidson, who has a doctorate in biochemistry. The more APOA5 you have the faster the triglyceride is removed. Everybody agrees it is an important protein but scientists dont know much about its structure or how it does what it does. If we could figure out how it works we could come up with a drug that uses the same mechanism or trigger it to work better.

UC Professor Sean Davidson is shown with Mark Castleberry in a College of Medicine laboratory. Credit: Colleen Kelley/University of Cincinnati

The work demonstrates UCs commitment to research as described in its strategic direction called Next Lives Here.

Castleberry says researchers inserted a human gene coded by DNA into bacteria genetically engineered to produce human proteins. Once those proteins were produced they were removed from the host and purified for use in studies at the lab bench and in mouse models.

We can quickly make a much greater amount of this protein using bacterial production than if we tried to isolate it from blood in humans, explains Castleberry. The mice in this study were basically fed a large bowl of fat and triglycerides.

We could analyze their blood after we fed them and observe the level of fat change as they digested the meal, said Castleberry. We were able to give our protein to the mice that had that fatty meal and rapidly clear the triglycerides that would have accumulated in their blood.

Other co-authors of this study were Xenia Davis; Thomas Thompson, a professor in UCs Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, and Patrick Tso and Min Liu, both professors in UCs Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Reference: Functional recombinant apolipoprotein A5 that is stable at high concentrations at physiological pH by Mark Castleberry, Xenia Davis, Min Liu, Thomas B. Thompson, Patrick Tso and W. Sean Davidson, 12 December 2019, Journal of Lipid Research.DOI: 10.1194/jlr.D119000103PDF

The research was supported by a National Institutes of Healths Heart, Lung and Blood Institute which funded a predoctoral fellowship for Castleberry.

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Removing Belly Fat Before It Sticks to You: University Researchers Produce Fat-Busting Proteins - SciTechDaily

Biochemistry

Removing belly fat before it sticks to you – Science Codex

Triglycerides, those fats that seem to be the bane of any diet, remain a mystery for many researchers. Plenty of them are in Big Macs, deep pan pizza and the like, but some are a necessity to fuel the body for daily activities.

Researchers Mark Castleberry, a doctoral student, and professor Sean Davidson, both in the UC College of Medicine, have found a way to produce in the laboratory a human protein produced in the liver known as Apolipoprotein A5 (APOA 5). It plays an important role in metabolizing and clearing excess levels of triglycerides from the bloodstream.

Their findings are available in the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's Journal of Lipid Research online. Castleberry, who is studying in the UC Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, is the paper's first author.

"We are really interested in understanding triglycerides because hypertriglyceridemia -- too much fat in your blood -- is a big factor leading to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and other health concerns," explains Davidson, who holds appointments in UC's departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology. "When you have a lot of fat that is hanging around in your circulation it's important to clear as much of it out as soon as possible."

"APOA5 is highly involved in how fast triglycerides get taken out of your circulation," says Davidson, who has a doctorate in biochemistry. "The more APOA5 you have the faster the triglyceride is removed. Everybody agrees it is an important protein but scientists don't know much about its structure or how it does what it does. If we could figure out how it works we could come up with a drug that uses the same mechanism or trigger it to work better."

The work demonstrates UC's commitment to research as described in its strategic direction called Next Lives Here.

Castleberry says researchers inserted a human gene coded by DNA into bacteria genetically engineered to produce human proteins. Once those proteins were produced they were removed from the host and purified for use in studies at the lab bench and in mouse models.

"We can quickly make a much greater amount of this protein using bacterial production than if we tried to isolate it from blood in humans," explains Castleberry. "The mice in this study were basically fed a large bowl of fat and triglycerides."

"We could analyze their blood after we fed them and observe the level of fat change as they digested the meal," said Castleberry. "We were able to give our protein to the mice that had that fatty meal and rapidly clear the triglycerides that would have accumulated in their blood."

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Removing belly fat before it sticks to you - Science Codex

Biochemistry

Penn State researchers awarded $2.86M to develop a new oral antibiotic to treat multidrug-resistant gonorrhea – Outbreak News Today

Up to $2.86Mhas been awardedto a research team including Penn State scientists to develop a new oral antibiotic to treat multidrug-resistant gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria that have developed resistance to all but one existing antibiotic. The research team includes Penn State Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Kenneth Keiler, the U.S.-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companyMicrobiotix, as well as researchers from Emory University and the Uniformed Services University.

The funds are awarded by the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator,CARB-X, a non-profit partnership dedicated to accelerating early stage antibacterial research and development to address the rising global threat of drug-resistant bacteria. If the project successfully achieves certain development milestones, the team will be eligible for an additional $16 million in funding from CARB-X.

Drug-resistant gonorrhea is a growing global health problem that can cause serious and sometimes fatal health issues in men and woman and that has the possibility of increasing the risk of contracting or giving HIV, said Erin Duffy, chief of research and development at CARB-X, which is based at Boston University School of Law. Neisseria gonorrhoeae has developed resistance to the effects of antibiotics, and in some cases, there is only one drug to which the bacteria are susceptible.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 78 million people a year are infected with gonorrhea; roughly 1.14 million of those infections occur in the U.S., of which an estimated 550,000 involve drug-resistant bacteria. Drug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae is identified by the WHO as a priority pathogen, and classified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an urgent public health threat that requires aggressive action.

This project features a novel approach to creating a new antibiotic and is in the early stages of development, said Duffy. If successful and approved for use in patients, it could represent tremendous progress in the treatment of gonorrhea and help curb the spread of drug-resistant bacteria.

The research team will optimize and develop a series of compounds into a novel antibiotic that targets and inhibits an essential pathway for the bacteria to grow and replicatethe trans-translation pathway. This pathway rescues ribosomes that become trapped because of errors in protein synthesis.

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Because the trans-translation pathway is not found in animals, inhibiting the pathway should have a specific effect on bacteria and not host cells, said Keiler. This specificity makes inhibition of the trans-translation an attractive strategy for creating novel antibacterial agents.

Keiler discovered the trans-translation system as a graduate student, and his lab has studied the pathway over the last two decades. They have studied the biochemistry of the pathway and identified and characterized lead compounds for potential future drugs.

This grant is the culmination of a lab-to-clinic odyssey that started about 16 years ago with a seed grant from what is now the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and seed funding from the Eberly College of Science, said Keiler.

For this grant, Keilers lab will conduct biochemical experiments to test the activity of new compounds and microbiological characterization of the drugs, while Microbiotix and other collaborators will focus on drug formulation, animal studies, and, if successful, Phase I clinical trials in humans.

Proposed as a single dose oral therapy, this innovative program has great potential, not only to address the urgent threat posed by multidrug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae, but also to address other sexually-transmitted infection (STI) pathogens commonly found as coinfections, said Terry Bowlin, president & CEO of Microbiotix.

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Penn State researchers awarded $2.86M to develop a new oral antibiotic to treat multidrug-resistant gonorrhea - Outbreak News Today

Biochemistry

A review of the literature on acute promyelocytic leukemia – The Medical News

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Mar 22 2020

Oncotarget Volume 11, Issue 11 reported that relapsed APL, particularly in the high-risk subset of patients, remains an important clinical problem.

The probability of relapse is significantly higher in the high-risk subset of patients undergoing treatment for APL; overall approximately 10-20% of APL patients relapse regardless of their risk stratification.

Alternative agents and approaches considering these clinical outcomes are needed to address ATO resistance as well as the relapse rate in high-risk APL.

In recent decades, treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) has served as a representation of targeted therapy and has reflected the power of translational research."

Dr. Joaquin J. Jimenez, Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine at The University of Miami & Dr. Andrew Schally, winner of The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and founding Oncotarget Editorial Board member

The introduction of all-trans retinoic acid, as well as of arsenic trioxide in the treatment of APL, was crucial to achieving the current remarkable cure rates.

The initial evidence of the differentiating properties of retinoic acid and its potential to be used therapeutically came in 1980, first using the HL-60 cell line as a model for APL.

Shortly after the introduction of retinoic acid into the therapy regimen of APL, the need arose for addressing retinoic acid resistance.

Furthermore, up to 50% of patients undergoing treatment will develop differentiation syndrome; a common side effect of differentiating agents.

An evaluation of four clinical trials involving low-risk APL patients from 2010 2014 showed overall survival rates ranging from a low of 86% after three years to a high of 99% after 4 years.

The Jimenez Research Team concluded in their Oncotarget Review, "the biochemical and mechanistic research on APL over the past few decades has led to a unique understanding of this disease and the treatment options, ushering in an era of targeted therapy. Despite remarkable scientific advances in treating APL, some issues still remain, concerning high-risk patients and patients exhibiting an uncharacteristic translocation. The use of HI-60 and NB4 cell lines will continue to be beneficial for future studies on APL since they have already shown a remarkable translational potential and will help address the therapeutic needs of patients that do not respond to conventional treatment. Further studies, addressing aspects of differentiation, nuclear body formation, and degradation of the fusion protein are essential for advancing the treatment of APL and targeting it towards each affected individual. The investigation for alternative therapies for relapsed APL patients and the introduction of clear, defined treatment guidelines in each risk classified group are of particular concern to be addressed."

Source:

Journal reference:

Jimenez, J.J., et al. (2020 Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL): a review of the literature. Oncotarget. doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27513.

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A review of the literature on acute promyelocytic leukemia - The Medical News